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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BackdoorArts" data-source="post: 216910" data-attributes="member: 9240">OK, a coupe things.  If you compare the bird feed at ISO 1400 and the Ibis at ISO 1600 a look at the background will show you have a very similar issue with noise.  The difference really has to deal with the IQ on your subject, and a white bird isn't going to make it easy to capture all the details you want.  Color noise on a white subject isn't pleasing at all, and that's part of your issue.  The D90 is a great little camera, but that old 12MP sensor doesn't do noise nearly as well as today's, even when they're more densely packed.  I find ISO 800 is the last tolerable setting for me, so your results are not extremely surprising.  You can obviously see the difference at lower settings.If you must shoot at higher ISO's then I would strongly recommend shooting in RAW as you will allow for greater noise reduction in post.  Lightroom has a set of sliders that I suspect would do wonders for calming some of the noise, though it's not going to work miracles. Here's an older piece talking about the D90's high ISO performance as compared to the D300.  It will give you a bit of insight.  <a href="http://photographylife.com/nikon-d300-vs-d90-high-iso-noise-comparison" target="_blank">Nikon D300 vs D90 high ISO noise comparison</a>As for some other factors, realize that Daylight WB will look very cold when shooting in the shade.  Cloudy would have been a better choice and given you better colors (something you could more easily adjust in RAW mode).  There's nothing inherently wrong with shooting in JPEG mode, but realize that you need to be far more aware of precisely how the camera is set up to achieve the results you want.  Shooting RAW requires a little more time on the back end, but when settings aren't perfect it can save your photo.</blockquote>

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